USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > New Boston > History of New Boston, New Hampshire > Part 3
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35
31
quiet beauty as it stretches outward and onward towards the sea.
" Oh, nature, how in every charm supreme, Whose votaries feast on raptures ever new, Oh, for the voice and fire of Seraphim, To sing thy glories with devotion due."
Such are the external scenes and surroundings from which the sons and daughters of New Boston drew their early inspi- ration, and under the influences of which were shaped and tempered the elements of their growth and character. Nature rarely fails to impress something of her own features upon the children whom she nourishes upon her bosom.
Where the earth rises to meet the heavens ; where cataracts foam and the waters leap; where, above the herds that graze and the fields that bloom in the valleys below, the cagle wheels to his home in the cliffs, 'tis there, other conditions being equal, that the soul most surely " looks up through nature to nature's God;" - that the seeds of liberty and virtue take read- iest and firmest root, and the abodes of men are safest from violence and plunder.
" Nature, we owe thee much if we have felt Aught of the firm resolve or wish sublime, 'Tis that we drank from thee the heavenly draught, And gave thy moral image to the world."
Peculiarly gratifying as are the circumstances under which we meet ; though fraught with so much of traditional interest and social inspiration, the occasion is not free from suggestions of sadness. Of those, who have gone out from among you within the memory of the present generation, a part only have returned. Some who had hoped to mingle in our festivities have been providentially prevented. Others, whose address was unknown or uncertain, have failed of notice. Many, very many, have passed beyond the call of earthly friendships. As well among us who left as you who remained, death has done its inevitable work. Since last we met, who of us all has not lost a friend ? Of all the family circles to which we claim kin- dred, what one has remained unbroken ? Some have passed away in the bright morning of hope and promise ; others have
32
fallen in the strength and noon of life and labor. In the case of a few, the silver cord has remained unloosed until the eye became dim and the grasshopper a burden.
How few of the fathers and mothers who bowed at these altars, and worshiped in this mountain, when we were young, are here to greet us to-day !
It is not our purpose to obtrude upon the pleasures of this festive season, the memory of private griefs or individual sor- row, of which we have all had our allotted share, or say aught that might open those heart-wounds over which time has passed his kind and healing hand. But there is one bereavement in which we all equally share, all sorrowing for the loss of one in whom, while living, we found a common friend and father, which forces itself upon our attention, and claims from the passing hour a tribute of filial recognition. To this our social jubilee the charm of his presence is wanting. We miss his genial smile, the cordial grasp of his hand, his words of affec- tionate welcome, his parental benediction. Assembled to mark an era and commemorate so much that is local and interest- ing in our history as a community, it is impossible not to recur to the name of one whose memory, fragrant with a thousand grateful recollections, looks out upon us from every whispering tree and ancient pathway like a living presence, reminding us of the plastic and moulding genius, that seized upon the ele- ments of youthful character and gave them the touch and tone of virtuous manhood and womanly grace, evolving fresh vigor as the years have waned. For a period of forty years, embracing two-fifths of the century now closing, he moved among his people, their acknowledged head, teacher, and guide ; a living exemplar of whatever is pure and excellent in moral and Christian living. To advance your social prosperity, your educational interests, and secure the present and eternal well- being of yourselves and your children, was the unselfish bur- den of his heart, the labor of his life. Faithful to every duty, public and private, failing in attention to no class or condition, · witli a wise reference to the great truth in the economy of growth, that upon the seed-time depends the future harvest, he took especial interest in the training and education of the young. How vididly do we recall his periodical visitations to
33
the district schools, regularly occurring at the beginning and again at the close of each term! They were the events of our school-day years. With what anxious carefulness of prepara- tion, with what lively emotions of anticipated pleasure, we awaited his coming. The young eyes turning, in spite of rules, a sly glance through the window, lighted up with new animation as they saw his approach ; expectation stood on tiptoe as the well-known knock was heard at the door, and the whole school rose to welcome, with the affectionate homage of their obeisance, the advent of a recognized benefactor and friend. No merited praise was withheld, and criticism, when required, was administered with wisdom and charity. He brought a kind word for all, - assurance of reward for the dil- igent, encouragement for the backward, hope for the timid, a sure return of happiness for the good, and to the young aspir- ings of those of brightest promise, though clad in homeliest garb, were held up the attractive awards of future eminence and success. The performance of his parochial duties was without partiality. In visiting the homes of the more afflu- ent, he passed not by the dwellings of the poor. In both he was equally at home, and equally welcome. His words, always fitly spoken, were as " apples of gold in pictures of silver," and " as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies." When the ear heard him, then it blessed him ; and when the eye saw him, it gave witness to him.
Unto him men gave ear, and waited and kept silence at lis counsel. They waited for him as for the rain, and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain.
In the house of gladness his presence and chastened vivacity served but to heighten every innocent pleasure, and to the house of sickness and mourning he hastened to bear, from his Master, precious words of mercy and consolation, - words which few knew so well how to administer.
" At church, with meek and unaffected grace, His looks adorned the venerable place ; 'Truth from his lips prevailed with double sway, And fools who came to scoff, remained to pray."
Possessed of a mind richly endowed by nature and cultivation, of conversational powers of rarest fascination, added to a pres-
5
34
ence, at once agreeable and commanding, he took rank from the first among the most gifted and intellectual of his contem- poraries. Though eminently qualified for success in situations affording broader range for intellectual activity and display, he was content to complete the measure of his life and ministry in the less ambitious field to which he was first called, and, at last, be laid to rest among the people to whom his youthful strength and his earliest and only vows were given.
Venerable man! " None knew him but to love him, none named him but to praise." And, so long as the Christian faith shall preserve this tabernacle, and here maintain an altar, the name of EPHRAIM PUTNAM BRADFORD shall live in the affection- ate memory of men.
We have met, fellow-townsmen, for an historic as well as social purpose ; to chronicle events while we glean in the field of recollection ; to pause in the rapid round of years, review the past, and make a record ; to witness the closing scenes of a dying century, and raise a monument, and trace upon it a brief inscription to its memory. Though the range of immediate inquiry is narrow and special, the task of its ex- amination which we propose to ourselves on this occasion, is not devoid of general interest. The records of states and na- tions are made up from local and partial annals. From out just such materials as the threads and fragments, which the people of New Boston this day " rescue from the common de- cay," the historic muse weaves with cunning hand the varie- gated web of the ages.
The events connected with the first settlement of New Bos- ton, about the year 1733, and its incorporation thirty years later by the provincial government of New Hampshire, carry us back to an age in which the great thought of separate nationality had not been conceived, and far into the colonial period of American history, to a time when our judges sat in the ermine of Westminster Hall, and governors and magistrates ruled by commissions from the crown ; when men were yet strong who had triumphed with Marlborough at Blenheim and Ramillies, and our martial ancestors celebrated in scarlet uniforms the imperishable anniversaries in the calendar of British glory ; to a period before the French empire in America had been dis-
35
solved in the shock of battle on the plains of Abraham, or the brave Scottish clans who welcomed Charles Edward to the Highlands had seen the last hope of the house of Stewart perish on the field of Culloden. 1355782
Men and generations pass away, but society and the race continue, and the cause of human progress and civilization, events and their logic, march steadily forward. Youth is re- newed at the grave of age, and over the ruins of universal death new and better forms of life perpetually spring.
Our origin as a community is involved in no obscurity. It is traceable in plain history, not in uncertain fable. In nation- ality, it was Scotch ; in Christianity, Protestant; in theology, Calvinistic ; in sect, Presbyterian. We trace the well-marked line of descent and emigration backward, first to Londonderry, New Hampshire ; thence to the counties of Londonderry and Antrim, in the north of Ireland ; and from thence to Argyle- shire and Ayrshire, its source, in the west of Scotland.
Than ours, few communities can claim a worthier genealogy, or trace a nobler ancestral record. Though compelled to force subsistence from a reluctant soil, though inhabiting a land en- circled by wintry seas, piled with mountains, roaring with tor- rents and wrapt in storms, the Scottish race have achieved results and attained a rank which have challenged the respect and admiration of the world. From external fortune was fashioned the interior character, and both were of iron. Emerg- ing in advance of most of the countries of Europe, from out the barbarism of the middle ages, Scotland has continued for more than seven centuries an historic and civilizing power among the nations of the earth. Like her national " thistle," blooming for her friends and bristling to her enemies, in every period of her history, she has been true to her motto, -
" Nemo me impune lacessit."
As the "ever-green pine" of Clan Alpine, moored in the " rift- ed rock proof to the tempest shock," she still abides in immortal youth, with eye undimmed and strength unabated, bearing " length of days in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and honor." In literature, science, and philosophy, notwith- standing her comparatively small population, the array of brill-
36
iant names she has given to the world is excelled by no country, ancient or modern.
From the Tweed to the Orkneys, and from the frith of Tay to Loch Shiel, there is no rood of ground which the pen of her gifted sons has not made classical. The yearly pilgrimages made by poets, scholars, and tourists to the various objects of natural grandeur and beauty with which Scotland abounds, are but the homage which taste and learning annually pay to the genius of Burns, of Scott, of Wilson and of Macaulay, who, in deathless song and matchless prose, have invested the estuaries and lochs, the mountains and glens, the banks and braes, the " heathy moors and winding vales" of our fatherland, with life and enchantment. Katrine and Loch-Lomond, Benvenue and Benan, the "Sweeping Nith " and "Bonny Doon," glowing afar in the attractions of romance, will carry down to remotest time the names which have made them immortal.
The rigors of climate, the severities of labor, the protracted conflicts to which they have been subjected, and through which as well as over which they have triumphed, joined to native force of intellect and a stern Christian faith, have given charac- ter to the Scotch, and enabled them to exhibit, in every condi- tion and under all vicissitudes of fortune, those combined quali- ties of valor, energy, intelligence, constancy, and self-command which create success and exempt nations and individuals alike from the possibilities of failure. It need, therefore, excite no- surprise that the inhospitable shores, the bleak mountains, the rocky soil, and the rugged primeval forests of New England had no terrors for and presented no obstacles to our hardy ancestors. They came to their work of settlement and empire with fearless hearts and resolute hands, trusting alone in the favor of Heaven and their own strong arms for success.
Upon the death of Elizabeth, in 1603, James the First of England and Sixth of Scotland succeeded to the British throne. During the early period of his reign, he directed his attention to the improvement and reformation of Ireland. The cruel and barbarous customs, which had prevailed among the aborigi- nal inhabitants, were abolished, and the English laws, with courts for their administration, were substituted in their stead. Upon the suppression of a revolt, which had been raised
37
against his authority, the insurrectionary district, embracing the province of Ulster, by attainder of the rebel chiefs, reverted to the Crown. Liberal grants of the forfeited lands were made to companies formed in London, in aid of the royal scheme of securing the permanent pacification of the insurgent district by the introduction of emigrants from England and Scotland. Under the encouraging auspices of the Crown, the process of colonization went rapidly forward. Industry and the arts went with the colonists. The effect produced by the introduction of the new element among the native material soon vindicated the wisdom of the enterprise. Violence and crime diminished, and the country began at once to assume the appearance of comparative order and civilization. The rebel- lion had left the ancient city of Derry in ruins. With a view to its reconstruction, the site upon which it had stood, together with six thousand acres of adjacent lands, were granted to the city of London in its corporate capacity, whence the old city and county of Derry received the name of Londonderry. Emi- grants from Scotland, companies of whom began to arrive as early as 1612, settled in the counties of Londonderry and Antrim, which thus became for a long and eventful period the home of our ancestors. During the three following reigns, and including the period of the commonwealth, the colonists in Ire- land continued to receive, from time to time, large accessions to their numbers from among their kindred and countrymen from England and Scotland. So that, at the commencement of the memorable struggle of 1688, which resulted in the com- plete dethronement of James the Second, and his final expul- sion from the British islands, the Protestants of Ulster had become, not indeed numerically, but by reason of superior energy, skill, and intelligence, the dominant and controlling class in the north of Ireland. Throughout that renowned con- test of arms, their zeal, endurance, and intrepidity have never been surpassed. To their long and heroic defence of London- derry, by which the French and Irish army was for months baffled and delayed, and before which it finally rolled back over the line of its advance, broken and demoralized, the cause of freedom and Christian civilization is in no small degree in- debted for the success of that most auspicious and happy of
-
38
revolutions which brought William of Orange and Mary to the throne.
Subsequent to this event, and a little less than thirty years thereafter, one hundred and twenty families of Scotch descent, from the counties before mentioned, among whom were many who had witnessed and some who had participated in the memorable siege, prompted chiefly by the hope of securing a larger measure of civil and religious liberty, prepared to bid a final adieu to the old world, and try their fortune in the new.
They left the shores of Ireland in five ships, and arrived at Boston August 4, 1718. Sixteen of these families, having obtained from the authorities of Massachusetts leave to locate upon any of the unappropriated lands under the jurisdiction of that province, a township of twelve miles square, proceeded, during the autumn, to Casco Bay, with the design of settling in the neighborhood of what is now Portland ; if, upon view, a satisfactory location should be found. The expedition proved unsuccessful. After passing, in the harbor of Falmouth, a winter of unusual severity, through which they were subjected to extreme suffering, both from cold and hunger, they started upon their return on the first opening of spring, and, coasting westward, entered the mouth of the Merrimack, and ascending it to the head of navigation, landed at Haverhill, then a fron- tier town, on the second of April, 1719. At this place flat- tering representations were made to them of a tract of country lying but a few miles northerly, to which, by reason of the abundance and variety of nuts found there, had been given the name of Nutfield. Thither the impatient adventurers, without delay, bent their weary but still resolute steps, and on the eleventh of April rested upon the soil of our then future Lon- donderry. It was the time of spring. Nature, throughout all her myriad arteries, was throbbing with the tides of returning life. The wild grass was springing in the narrow glades and along the margin of the streams; the forests of sturdy growth, swelling with preparation, were just ready to burst into ver- dure ; and every living thing, that had a voice, joined in a general chorus of welcome to the vernal year. It was the season of hope, and the scene was one of gladness. Here the little company of emigrants, weak in numbers but strong in
39
spirit, at once determined to locate their grant and build their homes. Committing themselves and their infant enterprise to the keeping of that Being in whom they reverently trusted, they went to the work assigned them with a faith that never faltered, and with hands that never tired.
Had the acquisition of fame been the end at which they aimed, their aspirations must have been fully satisfied could they have seen the distinguished position they were destined to occupy in the domain of history. But such was not the ambi- tion which led them on.
" Not as the conqueror comes, They, the true-hearted, came ; Not with the roll of the stirring drums And the trumpet that sings of fame.
Not as the flying come, In silence, and in fear : They shook the depths of the forest gloom With their hymns of lofty cheer.
What sought they thus afar ? Bright jewels of the mine ? The wealth of seas ? the spoils of war ? They sought a faith's pure shrine.
Ay, call it holy ground, - The soil where first they trod ! They have left unstained what there they found, - Freedom to worship God."
Then and there were laid the foundations of a community which was destined to act a most important and distinguished part in the future settlement, growth, and triumphs of New Hampshire. Prosperity attended this colony from the begin- ing. The tomahawk and torch of the savage, by which so many neighboring settlements had been surprised and desolated, came not near its borders. The pestilence, which had wasted so many colonies, averted its breath from this. For nearly or quite a half century, accessions were almost yearly made to its strength and numbers from the ranks of newly-arrived emi- grants of like faith and blood. The history of this community,
40
from its inception, was one of uninterrupted growth and suc- cess. It proved a fountain from which, as well as into which, streams of emigration flowed. It is estimated that there are now living more than twenty-five thousand persons, some of whom are to be found in almost every town of New England, and not a few beyond its borders, who derived their origin from this people. Windham and Londonderry, Vt. ; Cherry Valley, N. Y. ; Windham, N. H .; Acworth, Chester, Manchester, Bed- ford, New Boston, Antrim, Peterborough, Francestown, Goffs- town, Henniker, and Deering were first settled, all of them largely, and several of them, including New Boston, almost en- tirely, by emigrants from Londonderry. Of New Boston it may be said, more emphatically than of any other town, she was the child of Londonderry.
Many other settlements received early and important acces- sions from the same source, and, notwithstanding these heavy drafts upon her population, the mother township numbered within her own borders, in 1775, two thousand five hundred and ninety souls.
Having thus briefly traced the history of the colony by whose sturdy sons and sterling daughters our own town was founded and its character and institutions formed, it only remains to be added, that no community within the limits of New Hampshire has exerted a wider or happier influence in shaping the destinies and advancing the honor of the State, than Londonderry.
Throughout the struggle of the Revolution no town displayed greater unanimity, constancy, and zeal for the patriot cause, or made larger contributions of men and means to secure its suc- cess. Thornton, Stark, Reid, Gregg, and McCleary are of the men she gave to the cause and the country, - names which have shed imperishable lustre upon the annals of the States, and abide forever in the gratitude of a free people.
THE GRANT.
New Boston was granted, January 14, 1736, by " the Great and General Court or Assembly, for His Majesty's province of Massachusetts Bay," to John Simpson and fifty-two others, in- habitants of Boston. The name New Boston, which was sug-
41
gested from the residence of the grantees, was first applied to the township by the proprietors on the 16th of April, 1751, in a call for a meeting, as follows : " The proprietors of a township granted to John Simpson and others, and lying on the branches of Piscataquog river, known by the name of New Boston, are hereby notified," &c.
The proprietors held their first meeting April 21, 1736, " at the house of Luke Vardy," Boston.
In the records of their proceedings from 1736 to 1751, the township is variously designated, sometimes as " the township granted to John Simpson and others ;" sometimes as " the township lying on the branches of the Piscataquog river, bounded on two of the Narraganset towns, viz., No. 3 and No. 5" (Amherst and Bedford) ; and again as " the new township lying on the south and middle branches of the Piscataquog. river."
The grant was of " a township in the unappropriated lands of the province, of the contents of six miles square, with one thousand acres added for ponds," and two rods in each hundred " for unevenness of surface and swagg of chain." In pursuance of authority contained in the act, the grant was located in Feb- ruary, 1736 (new style), by a survey made by Jeremiah Cum- mings, surveyor, and Zacheus Lovewell and James Cummings, chainmen, appointed and sworn for that purpose, and as thus located, the grant was confirmed the 20th of the following March.
For a part of the distance on two sides, the survey bounded the township by Amherst and Bedford, then known as the Narraganset towns, Nos. 3 and 5. The rest of the way the line was run through "province lands" by courses and monu- ments. The lines then established remain the present bounda- ries of the town.
In 1746, an event occurred which occasioned no inconsidera- ble alarm, not only to the proprietors of New Boston, but on the part of land-owners throughout the province as well, who held their grants under the government of Massachusetts. The claim put forth by the Masons to the soil of New Hampshire, and from time to time pressed with great pertinacity and various success, had long been a prolific source of litigation and
6
·
42
embarrassment. Doubts, which had thus been cast upon the tenure by which the lands were held, had necessarily tended to retard the growth and settlement of the towns. In the year last mentioned, John Tufton Mason, the heir of Capt. John Mason, the original grantee of the province, for the considera- tion of 1,500 pounds, sold and conveyed his title to Mark H. Wentworth, Theodore Atkinson, John Wentworth (son of Ben- ning Wentworth, then governor), and nine others, residents of Portsmouth. These twelve persons were afterward known as the " Masonian proprietors." The high standing of these gen- tlemen, their intimate relations to the royal government, and the uncertainty which at first prevailed in reference to their purposes, greatly excited and disturbed the public mind. These apprehensions, however, were soon dispelled.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.